Part 2
Looking for clues
Part 2
Looking for clues
Part one set the scene of the detective story. It presented a daunting environment: too much information, little order and no logical framework for decision making.
Part two is about looking for clues as to how to deal with this environment. It begins by considering new ways to think about a dynamically complex world where it is impossible to have all the answers. Like the detective in any detective story, this involves stumbling around, looking for any clue that offers a pointer towards a solution.
The main characteristics of the world of the Information Age are: complexity; uncertainty; unknowns; unknowables and intense competition. Such conditions are not unique. These conditions have existed in certain areas before the advent of the Internet. Two of these areas are examined here to see what strategies the professionals in these worlds are using to deal with conditions of uncertainty and complexity. Chapter five looks into the world of investment and finance, where uncertainty, chaotic and unpredictable events are coped with every day of the week. Chapter six looks at the way complexity is managed in the arcane world of computer programming.